Cecil Beaton: The Royal Portraits

by Cecil Beaton, Claudia Acott Williams

A contemporary look at Cecil Beaton’s portraits of the British royal family and how they helped create the public face of the House of Windsor. Cecil The Royal Portraits looks back in time to tell a very modern the creation of a public image. Offering a fresh appraisal of Beaton’s portraits of the British royal family, the book explores not only the finished images but also the sittings in which they were created, revealing Beaton’s central role in shaping the public face of the House of Windsor and the ways in which he collaborated with his subjects. Organized chronologically, from the 1930s to the 1970s, each of the book’s four chapters comprises an introductory essay, plates with extended captions, and one or two in-depth analyses of a particular sitting. Throughout, a variety of contextual material―contact sheets, test shots, outtakes, sketches, letters, journals, tear sheets―helps build a detailed picture of Beaton’s methods, the relationships he developed with his sitters, and how the portraits were received. Drawing on the Victoria and Albert Museum’s unparalleled collection of Beaton’s photographs, this volume will appeal not only to those interested in the photographer and his work, but also to anyone for whom the distinction between the private world and the public face of the royal family remains a source of fascination. 224 illustrations / 74 in color

Genres: Royalty, Photography, Nonfiction

240 pages, Hardcover

First published September 19, 1988

About the author

People noted sets and costumes of British photographer, diarist, and theatrical designer Cecil Walter Hardy Beaton for My Fair Lady on stage in 1956 and on film in 1964.

Cecil Beaton first styled his sisters decadently. His unique flair for elegance and fantasy led him to the most successful and influential portrait and fashion of the 20th century. From Adolf de Meyer, baron, and Edward Jean Steichen as sources of inspiration, he nevertheless developed all his own style. He worked for Vogue for more than a quarter-century and also as court official to the royal family in 1937. A constant innovator, Beaton worked for five decades to captivate some figures of his time from Edith Sitwell to the Rolling Stones, Greta Garbo, Jean Cocteau, and Marilyn Monroe.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cecil_B...

Reviews

[Mary · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've had this since it was first published in 1988 and have read it many times. It was my first introduction to the artistic brilliance of Cecil Beaton. Gorgeous photos of the Royals.

[Jay Cat · Rating 4 out of 5]

A book with great quality but with some flaws: some photographs could have been in coulours and the text hardly brings any emotions.

[Bo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cecil Beaton: The Royal Portraits compiles famed photographer Cecil Beaton’s photographs of members of the British Royal Family taken between the 1920s and the 1970s. While it is “coffee table book” in style, it is also worth reading cover-to-cover for its substance. Claudia Acott Williams weaves an engaging narrative about the arc of Beaton’s career as a royal photographer that contextualizes the photographs and the critical but ever-varying role they played in shaping the Royal Family’s presentation of itself to the public.

Beaton began photographing members of the Royal Family in the 1920s, starting with an elderly daughter of Queen Victoria, but the majority of his work’s sitters were the core members of the Royal Family from the middle decades of the century: George VI and the Queen Mother, the Duke and Duchess of Windsor (a.k.a. the former King and Wallis Simpson), Elizabeth II and her family, and members of the various branches of the Windsor clan that comprise the outer orbit of the extended royal family today (the Snowdons, Gloucesters, Kents, and Ogilvys).

The photographs themselves are stunning. Beaton was an impressive artist who brought out the elegance and personality of his sitters, and just viewing the photographs without text would be well worth your time. However, Acott Williams does an impressive job of adding to the experience by setting the scene for us and explaining the significant role the photographs played in helping the Royal Family, often grappling with what its role and value were to the British public throughout the 20th Century, shape how the public perceived them. We see Beaton’s style progress and change not only with his own artistic development, but to match the evolving needs of the Royal Family over the years, ranging from the need to portray the steadfastness and sense of service and shared sacrifice of the Royal Family during WWII era, to the need to present the Queen as a symbol of both stability and accessibility during the social tumult of the late 1960s. In addition to providing overviews of the needs and challenges the Royal Family faced in various eras (and how photography was used in response), Acott Williams supplies us with insight into the details of the various sittings, Beaton’s own thoughts on his work, and the relationships between the photographer and his sitters.

Thames & Hudson and the Victoria and Albert Museum have created a beautiful book that also provides an interesting history of Beaton’s role in shaping the public image of the Royal Family. I highly recommend it if you have any interest in the 20th Century British history, the Royal Family, or photography.

[Cathryn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Library of Congress Catalog No. 62-19318 c/1963 The Bobbs-Merrill Company Inc., a subsidiary of Howard W. Sams & Co., Inc. Oversize, Cold Spring Harbor Library.